Tenant and agent from the hell

I wanted to ask your advise how to get rid of the tenants from the hell.

I rent my house in Melbourne out through a big agent. The tenants are over 70s and retired. Agent told me verbally they have $5000 income per month. Obviously agent told a lie. Unfortunately I don't have evidence in writing to prove that. It seems like the tenants don't have any savings. The pension they got every month is only $2000. The rent of my house is around $1500.

I never get payment in time since the first month. This is my first IP and I didn't expect a nightmare like this.

- It need to be 14 days after payment day to log a case to VCAT. And it takes another more than 15 days for VCAT to organize hearing. Agent told me that VCAT is too busy to organize hearing. Is that true? Is it possible to log a case to VCAT earlier because it take them so long to organize hearing?

- This is a one-year contract and still have 6 months to go.
I was told I cant ask them to vacate as long as they pay rent in 14 days. But The VCAT process is so time consuming.

Agent logged a case to VCAT on Feb. it was withdrawn by Jury. The reason is the tenant owed $800 out of $1500. Later on the tenants paid the rest of $700.

Now it is Mar. They owe me $500 for the rent from Feb to Mar and $1500 for Mar to Apr.

- Do you think I can get compensation from Agent? Obviously they didn't do their job to evaluate the tenant in the first place.


I am keen to know anything I can do to ask the to vacate. Agent doesn't seem to be very helpful.

Thank you very much in advance.

QuickZebra
 
Quickzebra

Welcome to the world of property investment, unfortunatley its not all bells and whistles. Firstly I would take a deep breath and make sure you keep everything documented. Make sure all correspondance with your property manager is in writting. If you have lost trust in your property manager which by the sounds of it you have you need to start looking around ( it may be wise to specify the broad area as someone on SS might be able to help). So get straigh with these tenants, it does not matter if they are 27 or 70, if they don't want to stick up to there part of the contract, take them to VCAT

In relation to you wanting compensation for them choosing the tenant remember you chose the agent.

Jezza
 
Sometimes you just get bad tenants. Tenants can appear good, but the real proof is when they move in. Don't stress if you've got a bad one, just send out the relevant paperwork at the relevant times & get rid of them. Be prepared as it can take some time. Make sure you always have a buffer in place, as it is not always plain sailing.
 
Sorry to hear this about your first IP. Been through a few nightmares myself of late:eek:

send out the relevant paperwork at the relevant times & get rid of them. Be prepared as it can take some time. Make sure you always have a buffer in place, as it is not always plain sailing.
I agree.

  • Put everything in writing
  • Go above the Property Manager & deal with the Principal if you feel the need
  • Is there any information on their Application Form to show they have included false information? Use that against them.
  • Find a new Property Manager tomorrow if you're not comfortable with them & get the new PM onto it.

This is a one-year contract and still have 6 months to go.
I was told I cant ask them to vacate
Why not? Use the "C" word - communication! Have you asked them to vacate? Do they know how you feel? If they are financially strained, they might be happy to leave early if you can find a replacement tenant. Negotiate for them to break the lease? I'd rather them out than put up with it for another 6 months. Inform them if they're continually late you couldn't give them a positive reference either.

Good luck with it all.
 
I remember from when you asking if you should rent to this couple.I went back and read that thread.
Did this couple provide the required income statements to show they afford this rental?
I agree to go above the PM, and speak to their supervisor.
Have them continue to follow through with evicting for non payment.

Maybe have your PM ask tenants if they want released, after a new tenant is found. (as other poster suggested)

For as much help as your PM seems to be providing, you could have saved heaps and managed this property yourself.
 
I wanted to ask your advise how to get rid of the tenants from the hell.

I rent my house in Melbourne out through a big agent. The tenants are over 70s and retired. Agent told me verbally they have $5000 income per month. Obviously agent told a lie. Unfortunately I don't have evidence in writing to prove that. It seems like the tenants don't have any savings. The pension they got every month is only $2000. The rent of my house is around $1500.

I never get payment in time since the first month. This is my first IP and I didn't expect a nightmare like this.

- It need to be 14 days after payment day to log a case to VCAT. And it takes another more than 15 days for VCAT to organize hearing. Agent told me that VCAT is too busy to organize hearing. Is that true? Is it possible to log a case to VCAT earlier because it take them so long to organize hearing?

- This is a one-year contract and still have 6 months to go.
I was told I cant ask them to vacate as long as they pay rent in 14 days. But The VCAT process is so time consuming.

Agent logged a case to VCAT on Feb. it was withdrawn by Jury. The reason is the tenant owed $800 out of $1500. Later on the tenants paid the rest of $700.

Now it is Mar. They owe me $500 for the rent from Feb to Mar and $1500 for Mar to Apr.

- Do you think I can get compensation from Agent? Obviously they didn't do their job to evaluate the tenant in the first place.


I am keen to know anything I can do to ask the to vacate. Agent doesn't seem to be very helpful.

Thank you very much in advance.

QuickZebra
It's never as easy as all the media spinners and soap box speakers tell you in the property investing game,and as Skater has already said have a cash 10k buffer in place at all times,and make the pm's do the job that you pay them for,this is not a big problem just the time factor,and don't give up it's all sent to test you,you either fall over and look for someone to blame,, or it makes you harder:) it's up too you..willair..
 
If they are on the pension, I would *strongly* recommend you look into Centrepay to get the rent taken straight out of their pension. I started a thread a while ago on how to do this. They should also be getting rent assistance.

I have tenants on the pension myself, I guesstimate they get $2200 a month plus $200 or so rent assistance. I'm charging them $440 a month. Their previous rent was higher and they managed to slip behind something severe over a lot of years because the managing agent LET them. They eventually got evicted. Agent couldn't explain why they'd never got them on Centrepay.
 
Late payers - yes, tenants from hell, hardly.

You might want to scan the forum and make yourself aware of the sort of things tenants can and do get up to.

Re your summation that your tenant owes this for Feb this for March etc.

This is not how the Tenancy Act refers to default rent but rather the number of weeks that the amount relates to.

This is relevant as the number of weeks relates to the actions that can and should be followed to ensure that the tenants are brought into line. (You will need to familiarise yourself with the redementaries of the tenancy act in your state. - know the rule book as it has been referred to;))

In your case I calculate that the tenant is 6 weeks in arrears. The relevant paperwork should have been issued by the PM and through the process the PM should take the tenant to the tribunal and get orders against the tenant.

All this is not ideal but you do need to follow the process and you may get them out earlier (although unlikely for late or slow payment) or at least keep them from falling further behind.

Cheers
 
Why have you automatically assumed your agent lied to you about the tenant's income? How do you know what pension they get? Is it a Centrelink pension or a superannuation pension?

Your tenant might have the income but a timing problem with cashflow.

My wife's grandmother had term deposits with Esanda which had interest paid quarterly. When Esanda stopped issuing term deposits last year, the ANZ bank then handled the term deposits but put them on a 12 month maturity apart from one which for some reason they put on 4 months. Well from getting a few thousand in the cheque account most months she went down to a few hundred. Now as the term deposits mature we've organised for them to be reinvested for 12 months with interest paid monthly, but it's still going to take till the end of this year to get her income back on an even keel.
 
The pension they got every month is only $2000. The rent of my house is around $1500.
About $325pw?
Now it is Mar. They owe me $500 for the rent from Feb to Mar and $1500 for Mar to Apr.
I have just come to re-look at this. Not such a big problem at all. March isn't over yet, so they don't owe you up until the end of March. They actually owe around $500 from previous month and $1175 for March. This totals arund $1675, or just over 4 weeks.

You also mention that you want the agent to pay you compensation. Why? Because they did their job and found you a tenant that you agreed could live in your property. The fact that the tenant is less than perfect is not the fault of the PM unless they didn't follow procedure in vetting the tenants and are not following up with the relevant documentation in your State to bring them into line, which it sounds like they are doing. These things take time. A lot of time!
 
Much appreciate your support and opinions

Many thanks to you all for your replies. I feel much better now. This is not end of the world. I have done all I can do. I won't wake up at midnight for this. It has already consumed too much valuable time and engergy which I should have spent on something else.
I will see how VCAT goes.
 
I had tennants in a place and they came referenced and both worked the agent said they presented well so we let the place to them. From the first month the rent was late and they called to complain about any little problem such as the hot water system pilot light out when they moved in. Anyway at the end of the first year i told the agent i wanted to increase rent by 40 a week, so they moved out.

The next tennants the agent said they didnt reccommend because get this "those people can be a bit aggressive" they were maori so anyway i looked at the applications and they both had 40k jobs and had been in the same job for 3 years so i leased the place to them. They always paid the rent on time and looked after the house better really well.

You will get some bad tennants its unavoidable but to me its a long term investment and you are going to have rough patches along the way as well as good patches were the rent is always paid and the value goes up 20% in a year.
 
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